Ethiopian Soft Matzah, Just Like They Ate at the First Passover

What if matzah didn’t have to taste like charred cardboard? This Ethiopian soft matzah proves that matzah can, in fact, be delicious.

Good news: it doesn’t! Today I have a recipe for a delicious (yes, really!) soft matzah that is nothing like the standard-issue bread of affliction—and a little bit like a chapati.

According to Gil Marks, the word “matzah” is derived from the root mootz (to press/squeeze) and is analogous to the English “flatbread.” Matzah was a standard loaf consumed by ancient Middle Eastern nomads; the difference is that in order to be considered kosher for Passover, matzah must be mixed, formed, and baked within an 18-minute period so that no chametz (leavened dough) is formed.

Though today matzah is generally mass-produced in factories, throughout most of history matzah-making was women’s work, with each household preparing its own supply. Women usually baked for their families in groups, with one to mix and knead, one to add water, one to roll the dough, and one to bake, or some variation thereof.

For most of history, matzah wasn’t hard like a cracker, as it tends to be today; rather, it was thicker, denser, and softer, more like a pocketless pita. It was also round, not square. Ashkenazi communities started shifting over to the cracker kind of matzah around the fifteenth century, but some Sephardim, as well as Ethiopian Jews, still make their matzah soft.

Why did soft matzah fall out of popularity in so many communities, if it’s so much more appetizing? Blame those killjoy Ashkenazim.

Soft matzah becomes stale much more quickly than the hard variety, and as such was made fresh each day of Passover (Shabbat excepted). Ever paranoid about creating chametz, which is even more problematic if done during Passover than in preparations beforehand, medieval Ashkenazim developed the practice of baking all of their matzah before the start of the holiday—and in order for it to last all eight days, it needed to be hard.

To make matzah that puffed up less, and this was at even less risk of becoming leavened, they also reduced the amount of water in the dough to the bare minimum. This made the dough very difficult to knead and roll, and matzah baking shifted from a female-dominated task to a decidedly male one. Thumbs down, guys.

Back to the recipe: it’s not strictly kosher for Passover to all standards if made in your average home kitchen, so if that’s a concern this is more of a fun novelty project to do in the weeks before the holiday to get into the spirit.

The recipe makes enough for a single soft matzah, so you may need to make multiple batches depending on the quantity you need.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Jennifer Abadi’s excellent new cookbook, Too Good to Passover.

Ethiopian Soft Matzah (Yhafesca Kit’ta)

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons black sesame, safflower, or canola oil, plus 1 tablespoon for oiling the pan

3 fluid ounces cold water

Warm an 8”–9” skillet over medium-low heat.

Combine flours and salt in a bowl, then mix in oil and water.

Gather the dough into a ball, briefly pound, and then press down into a 4” disk.

Grease skillet with 1 tablespoon oil. Add dough and press down with your palm until it approximately fills the pan.

Raise heat to medium-high and, while pressing down on the dough with a spatula or fork to flatten, bake until the bottom is flecked with brown spots, about 5–7 minutes. Flip and bake on the other side for about 3–5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve as soon as possible. If not serving immediately, wrap in a towel. This matzah does not keep well and is best eaten within a few hours of baking at most.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Gil Marks, 2010); “Ethiopian Kit’ta: Matzah That’s Made to Order,” Too Good to Passover (Jennifer Felicia Abadi, March 23, 2015); “The Story Behind Soft Matzah for Passover,” the Nosher (Aly Miller, March 28, 2017); Too Good to Passover (Jennifer Felicia Abadi, 2018)